AUBURN, Ala.—Jordan-Hare Stadium throbbed as the last minute of the fourth quarter ticked away Saturday, the orange pompoms waved by Auburn fans animating the 87,500-seat bowl into a great, crazed sea creature. The Tigers would have been lucky to eke out a winning record this season, what with last year's 3-9 disaster and sacking of the previous coach. But here they were, somehow 10-1 and tied with their intrastate overlords and reigning all-everythings, Alabama, in the fourth quarter.

Thirty-two seconds remained. The unbeaten and top-ranked Crimson Tide sat perhaps an overtime away from continuing their course to a third consecutive national championship, their fourth title in five years. A diehard Auburn fan could be forgiven for thinking, This might be as good as it gets.

What unfolded next turned a game that already ranked among the best in the Iron Bowl, the Alabama-Auburn series, into perhaps the most memorable finish in college football history that did not involve a trombone player.

Alabama pushed to the Auburn 38-yard line and called on replacement kicker Adam Griffith—the Tide's starter had missed two attempts and had one blocked—to try a 57-yard field goal. One second remained. As both teams clustered near scrimmage, a lone Auburn player trotted to a spot beneath the goalpost.
Chris Davis
had been summoned by Gus Malzahn, the Auburn offensive coordinator from the Tigers' 2010 national-title season who as first-year head coach had engineered the team's turnaround, an 0-8 to 6-1 improvement unprecedented in Southeastern Conference history. The Tigers were 10.5-point underdogs Saturday.

Griffith booted the ball, which sagged low and to the right of the goalpost. Davis caught it behind the word TIGERS in the end zone. He feinted right, then took off running to the left. At the 20-yard line he slipped past a tackler. At the 35, he nearly teetered out of bounds. At the 45, he shrugged past another defender.

When Davis reached Alabama territory he veered right, bursting through a line of blockers like an airplane piercing the clouds. With the world exploding around him, Davis glided into the end zone. Final score: 34-28, Auburn.

It was only the fourth time in NCAA football history that a team had returned a missed field goal 100 yards. The Tigers had never practiced the play.

Fans leapt onto their aluminum bleacher seats, stomping and screaming. They spilled onto the field as if stepping through a movie screen and into myth.

Alabama coach Nick Saban pursed his lips and walked onto the field to seal the misery with a handshake. The mastermind of the Tide's meticulous offense and precision defense, the man who obsessed over a coaching method he calls "The Process" had succumbed to a play that didn't exist.

Alabama's national-title hopes were all but smashed, its SEC West Division title grabbed by Auburn in that one tiny second on the clock. It was Saban who had bellowed for officials to restore that second. They agreed. Back went the second, in went the kicker, off went Davis.

It was the most spectacular finish in the sport's fiercest rivalry, and it came at that rivalry's apex, with the teams' No. 1 and No. 4 records rankings their collective highest in the history of the matchup.

The plays that preceded that conclusion were so spectacular that they stood like a stack of Olympic gold medals, each one's value hard to appreciate.

Trailing 21-14 early in the second half, Auburn marched 69 yards on nine plays—three of them passing, including Nick Marshall's 13-yard strike to C.J. Uzomah for the game-tying touchdown. The Tigers had trailed by as many as two touchdowns, and finished with a meager 97 passing yards for the game (compared with 296 rushing yards). The Tigers kept Alabama's top-ranked scoring defense off-balance by faking handoffs and sending players in motion.

With the game tied 21-21 early in the fourth quarter, on the first play from scrimmage at the Alabama 1-yard line, Tide quarterback AJ McCarron dropped back and heaved a pass to Amari Cooper. The receiver caught it and ran the length of the right sideline for the go-ahead touchdown, 28-21. Thus a one-play, game-tying, 99-yard scoring drive was reduced to a footnote.

On the game's penultimate drive, Auburn's Marshall passed on the run to Sammie Coates, who veered into the end zone for a 39-yard touchdown to tie the game 28-28 with 32 seconds to go.

Auburn will play SEC East Division champion Missouri in Saturday's SEC championship game in Atlanta.

If current Nos. 2 and 3 Florida State and Ohio State win their respective conference championship games next Saturday, they probably will meet in the Bowl Championship Series title game Jan. 6 in Pasadena, Calif. Or if mayhem occurs—as it seems to around this Auburn teams—then the Tigers could find themselves in one of the unlikeliest title berths ever.

After the game Auburn defensive end Dee Ford talked of blocking for Davis on that final play. At the 50-yard line, Ford had swiveled his head as he scanned the field for tacklers that never arrived—until Davis' own teammates toppled onto him.

"I was just so shocked, just the way the game unfolded," Ford said. "What can you say, honestly?"

Yet again, the real National Championship will have been played in an SEC vs. SEC match-up. Sorry Pac and Big whatever. Too bad, so sad, ACC. But then again, you second tier college conferences are used to acknowledging the supremacy of the SEC. The BCS game will match up whomever they choose after this weekend, but one must admit it does not get any better than the SEC for football.

A fantastic game with with the "right" outcome--Saban/Alabama made a series of judgement errors and it cost them the game, as it should have. Auburn played very well, made no coaching errors and "got lucky" at the end. Whar a game !!!!Lost in the moment was MIZZOU victory over A&M to win SEC East on way to SEC Championship game vs Auburn. It will be Tigers vs Tigers with a (slim) chance to be the BCS game !!

What if? What if? Well, what if Missouri wins and Florida State and Ohio State lose. What if you get a bunch of overtime games and other crazy things happening next weekend. As Yogi Berra once said, it ain't over till its over. Or was that Casey Stengel? Till the fat lady sings? Next weekend will be interesting. I think the networks hope it continues to be crazy. Think of the ratings $$$$$$

a) To clarify, the kicker who missed the last second field goal was the long-distance specialist, not the poor fella with the jitters who missed two and had one blocked earlier. Cade Foster had a tough game, very much like his game against LSU two years ago.

b) As I told my son, who is a student at Auburn (while I graduated from Alabama), Auburn was destined to win this game, and dramatically. It is part of the Auburn psyche--they almost never win in a big game when they are expected to, but almost always do when they aren't favored, and have a chance to make a dramatic statement with a victory. Auburn people had been seething for Alabama having dominated college football so thoroughly the last few years. It was bound to be Auburn who brought them back down to earth. I figure even if it would have gone into overtime, Auburn would have won. It would not have been at all remarkable had Alabama won. They were expected to win. And all that success over the years weighed especially heavy on the Tide's shoulders, and particularly its kicker's.

c) Auburn is pretty good football team that is overachieving like Auburn likes to do, but I really can't say that they haven't used up all their fairy dust. Their previous game against Georgia was also won on a miracle. And the Tigers of Missouri are also an overachieving team, in a way competing with Auburn for the most unexpected season in college football, but their only loss represented a failure of luck, so maybe they have some fairy dust left in reserve. It'll be interesting to see which fairy tale stays alive. I think Missouri is the better team--it beat Georgia, for example, when Georgia wasn't hobbled with injuries, and did so convincingly, not on a last second miracle. But Auburn just loves it when people don't expect them to win. If Missouri is favored, I'm taking Auburn and the points (I really wished I'd actually bet the farm on last Saturday's game--I can call the AU/UA rivalry much better than I can pick stocks).

Bama got its commeuppance. But it's worth remarking that in the history of the series, there isn't one game where Bama beating Auburn was a big deal. But don't tell that to Auburn folks, unless you want to start a fight.

Stanford fan here... you Dukies can build an excellent football program too following our model of recruiting smart, strong student-athletes nationally and having a very good strength program. Now explain what you do in basketball...

I am neither an Alabama or Auburn fan; but what a great unbelievable finish. Congratulations Auburn.

I pull for Duke and they have the unenviable task of meeting FSU in the ACC championship game. The Blue Devils had an exceptional season; but reality awaits next week in Charlotte. Still it was a great run for them.

But is their chance for another miracle? Doubtful............................................................but......

I thought the replay of the previous play was less than conclusive. It looked to me, in fact, that the runner did not actually get out of bounds until after the clock expired, and the broadcasting booth announcers apparently agreed. It seems to me that the instant replay official may have been trying to give Alabama an additional second to kick that field goal.

If so, then he must be kicking himself, having handed the opportunity to Auburn to make that game winning play.

Grown men fell to the ground-as if shot-in the bar where I watched this game.I know college programs tend not to take the kicking game seriously (until something like this happens)...but 'Bama could'nt find ONE talented foot out there?! We're talking THE PROGRAM here...has some kid out there who looked like some afterthought. I guess it's assumed there will be no close games.(?) And what was special teams thinking by not having some speed guys out there to track Davis down? Every guy chasing him looked like a refrigerator on wheels.Even the last kid who had a shot at him looked like he spent this season going back for 2nds and 3rds at the buffet. This incredible game has an eerie " END OF THE DYNASTY" kinda' feel to it.Certainly one for the ages.Congrats Auburn.

This is one of the most poorly written articles I've seen in a long time. I tried reading this to find out what happened but went to a sports site instead.

Editor: Get rid of the first 3 paragraphs. Shorten the fourth paragraph. Describe what happened before giving a bunch of extraneous material. Who cares about the stupid Cal / Stanford trombone fiasco. That wasn't a football play. It was a cluster***. This was a football play. Auburn's coach designed this play.

Don't try to turn a dramatic, improbable ending to a football game into some literary work. It doesn't work. This prose doesn't work.

Great game either way it turned out, but my comment is really more towards fans in general. It's very tough when your team loses especially when you have a great team that is expected to go all the way to the championship. NO team is ever unbeatable and Alabama is no different. Alabama will still have a great year and still have a great program. What amazes me is that how many of these fans will now be looking for blood in particular Saban's blood. Believe me, there are a lot of teams that would love to have Saban (Texas being the biggest) and if the Bama fans turn on him then he's liable to take their offer, so be careful what you wish for. Living in Oklahoma all my life, I've seen these fans; one loss and they want someone fired. I've also seen this in teams all over the country where the University has a big football program and a big tradition of winning championships. Bama will survive this and will continue to have great seasons.

I'm an Alabama fan and hated to see them lose, but I have to admit the end of this game was a storybook win for Auburn and even though the outcome wasn't what I wanted, it's one of the reasons I love College Football.

I may be thinking of another game, but I thought they said that their regular field goal kicker was injured, and that the long range place kicker had to fill in. Of course, this was a long range kick, so he may have done it anyway. I believe they said that it was a 57 yard attempt. Not too many kickers who can hit that--certainly not consistently.

The real question is why Alabama was not prepared to deal with the run back. Seems like that ought to be something you'd tell your team while they were looking at the instant replay. It was more a mental mistake than anything else.

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